The principal purpose of the present invention is to provide a very simple, yet sturdy testing apparatus to determine the percolation rate of soil. Prior devices have been devised heretofore for accomplishing similar purposes but these, in general, are more complex and, accordingly, more costly than the apparatus comprising the present invention. Two prior patents directly related to percolation testing comprise U.S. Pat. No. 3,892,126, to Curtin, dated July 1, 1975, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,945,247, to Anderson, dated Mar. 23, 1976. The Curtin patent adapts a conventional surveyor's tripod to the purpose of testing percolation rate by mounting a scale fixed at one end to a table top supported by the tripod and extending vertically therefrom in fixed manner for movement of the upper end of a float rod relative to the scale. The Anderson structure comprises a sophisticated housing which is lowered into the test hole and a gauge rod is movable within the housing and has the lower end upturned for purposes of observing the terminal surface of said upturned end relative to water level within the test hole, a timer being employed for indicating a test period, and another observation must be made at the end of said period relative to the upper surface of said upturned end of the gauge rod.
In contrast to the more complex structures of these two prior patents, U.S. Pat. No. 3,926,143, to Hothan, dated Dec. 16, 1975, discloses a device for use in determining the flow of water into a well, as distinguished from testing the percolation characteristics of the soil within which the well has been formed. A well casing precludes any contact of water in the well with the soil except through water inlet holes in the lower end of the well casing and the float moves a rod for observation of the upper end thereof above the upper end of the well casing, but no scale of any type is employed to determine measurements.
The present invention has been devised primarily to provide an extremely simple and thus, relatively inexpensive testing apparatus for determining percolation of soil, details of which are set forth below: